Beware the End
by 1806anelia
Summary: A young boy finds himself stumbling out of a train without memory of himself whatsoever. Yet this is no ordinary train and no ordinary station. This is Hogwarts, school of witchcraft and wizardry. Who is this boy and what does Hogwarts have to do with him?
1. Chapter 1

**Hi! This is my first ever fanfiction story and I am sorry, that it was in HTML code when it uploaded. I hope I found and deleted all the code! Of course I welcome all reviews!**

A small boy almost stumbled out of the train that had just arrived. He looked around in confusion as if he did not know where he was. There was a bustle around the train as many children and teenagers were trying to get out of the doors at the same time. The boy tried to not be swept away by the huge mass of people, when he heard a booming voice calling over all the chattering

"Firs' years follow me! Follow me firs' years!"  
The overpowering voice belonged to an over towering, very hairy man. He loomed over everyone else by at least four heads.  
"You too, young man!" he spoke to the boy who was finally standing somewhat aside from everyone else, trying to catch his breath. "Come along now!" The boy did not exactly know where he was, but duly did as he was told by this giant man (can people really be so huge, he caught himself thinking). Following him was not so difficult seeing that people jumped out his way when he came, leaving a nice clear path for the boy.

"Hagrid!" a girl's voice sounded over the rest. Two slightly older kids were standing in front of Hagrid, a bushy brown haired girl and very red haired, freckled boy.  
"Hermoine! Ron! Everything all righ'?" A very happy Hagrid stated. "O I've go' a surprise fer you! Just wait and see!", he added excitedly. Hagrid turned to look at the crowd, seemingly searching for someone. "Where's Harry then?"  
The face of the girl fell. "Haven't you heard? There were dementors on the train, Hagrid! In our compartment!" The red haired boy next to her shivered faintly and said, "Yeah, it was horrible! It felt as if you would never be happy again.  
"And Harry", the girl continued, "reacted a bit...strongly to the dementors. He had to go to Madam Pomfrey."

"DEMENTORS!? On the train?! Albus is going to be furious he is!" Hagrid almost shouted, causing the first years to twitch. "Sorry", he apologized to them. "I jus' can't believe it!"

"Well at least professor Lupin knew what to do!" Hermoine stated. At that moment the two children started being pulled away by the mass of people in another direction. "We'll speak to you later, okay?" And with that they vanished into the сrowd. "Ruddy Dementors on the train!" Hagrid continued to grumble angrily. Finally he turned towards the first years. "Right, is everyone here? Come along then!" He trudged towards a lake with boats. The children walked a while behind him, nervously chatting to each other. Hagrid heard the expected gasps of awe from the first years as they saw the tremendous castle on the other side of the lake. "As they ruddy well should", he thought.  
"Welcome to Hogwarts!" Hagrid said to the children, trying to sound ceremonious.  
The boy had trudged behind the rest, feeling a bit out of sorts. It must have been the work of these...dementors. Funny though, he could not remember anything about dementors (whatever they are)...or the train he stumbled out of for that matter. Wait, he realized with a jolt, he could not remember ...anything. About himself or what he was doing here. Who was he? He stopped in his tracks breathing hard. What was happening here?  
Just as he was starting to panic he heard the awed gasps of the other children, who were looking at something. Jolted out of his grovelling for a moment, he also looked up and saw...beauty. It was a castle radiating tranquillity towards him. His worried frown diminished and he felt more at ease. Even though he did not know what was happening, he knew that this is where he belonged.

Chapter Two

The huge doors of the castle swung open and let in the group of excited and slightly frightened first years. The young boy, who trudged behind the rest, came into the welcoming huge entrance last and it was as if an almost tangible familiar feeling swept over him. At that moment he knew who he was, where he was and what he was doing at Hogwarts. The memory was so clear in his mind. He was John Smith, a first year student at Hogwarts, school of witchcraft and wizardry. He was the only child of Rose and Michael Smith, who also went to this school in their time, as did their parents before them. Why then, did he not remember it, when he got out of the train? Was it really just the dementors work? It had to be...

The first years were greeted by a tall, thin woman at the top of the stairs in the giant entrance hall of the school.  
Welcome to Hogwarts. My name is Professor McGonagall." She said in a terse, tight voice. After an introduction speech, where she informed them that they were about to be sorted into either of four houses, each with their fine qualities and rich history, she led them to a hall with a great sky above them. It surely could not be the actual sky could it? The hall was so big, that it easily fit four long tables in it. At the front of the hall was another table, where the teachers sat and just in front of the teachers table, was a small stool with a rather odd looking dusty old hat on top of it. John guessed they were supposed to put it on. The children walked to the front of the hall, all the while being followed by the eyes of the children and teenagers at the tables around them.

McGonagall started reading the names off the list. "Aberdeen, Harriett" was first.

A small girl with dark brown hair crept up on the stool and McGonagall placed the hat over the child's head. The hat suddenly wiggled and came to life. The hat was on the girls head mere moments before it called out, loud and clear,

"Gryffindor!"

A loud cheer came from the corresponding table and the girl happily ran to sit down amongst her companions.  
Crawford, Billy was placed in Hufflepuff. Children were placed in Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor and Hufflepuff. Then a "Smith, John" rang in the hall. John had been staring at the ceiling in wonderment, when he heard his name. He was nudged by a boy next to him and jumped towards the stand with a start. As he was getting closer to the stool, his eyes met those of an old man with a long silver white beard sitting at the table in front of him. That, of course, was Albus Dumbledore. The old man started giving him a smile, yet it froze and decayed thoughtfully. The smile was replaced by a growing frown. "The eyes" Dumbledore thought, "There is something wrong with the child's eyes..."  
John turned away from the oddly pondering old man to face the students in the hall. He knew and expected to be in the same house as his parents were: Gryffindor. McGonagall placed the hat on his head. It fell over his eyes and covered his view to the hall and its students. Yet while the hat started squirming on the head of every other student, it froze completely on John's. It just hung on his head, not saying anything or even twitching. Just as professor McGonagall wanted to remove the hat, to see what was wrong, it erupted into an odd poem that rang into the silent hall:

"What has been given will be returned.  
Our very essence must be unlearned.  
No turning back; it has begun.  
Beware the healer who has come."


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi! I finally managed chapter two! Actually it is chapter three, but I figured out, that it must be the next uploaded chapter, so I named this one chapter two. I hope you enjoy it and of course thank you for all the views and reviews!**

John sat perched on the stool, while everyone gazed at him and a murmur started spreading across the hall.

"Well, this is something new." Came from one end.

"The hat has gone mad!"

"Beware the healer? What healer?"

All the while the hat sat perfectly frozen on the head of John. A rather confused McGonagall wanted to remove the hat from the boys head to see if that would change anything. This had never happened before after all! Yet just as her fingers brushed the hat to flick it off, it suddenly burst into life and almost barked out "GRYFFINDOR!"

McGonagall let her hand hover above the hat for a moment, before timidly removing it from the child's head. It seemed like she was expecting an explanation from the hat as to what had just happened. Finally removing it, John could see the hall gazing at him uncertainly. Some of the Gryffindors started clapping timidly looking at one another.

Dumbledore was troubled as he saw the boy walk to his corresponding table. Oh, he had heard numerous prophecies and warnings over the years, but never on the head of a child. Did the boy have something to do with the words of the hat, or had the hat just finally lost a few important threads? Truth be told, there were enough problems on his mind as it were with Dementors in the school, Sirius Black's escape from Azkaban and Voldemorts possible return to have to deal with these troublesome words from a hat. He was so deep in thought he barely realized, that the rest of the sorting continued without further problems and that it was his turn to stand up and give his annual speech. Only after McGonagall, who had sat back down next to him and cleared her throat, did he come back to the present. He stood up, pretending to be calm and gathered for the sake of his colleagues and students, and began:

"It could well be that the hat has truly passed its golden days as they say!" He started with a light chuckle. "But I assure you let that not worry anyone tonight. And so I welcome you! Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! I have a few notifications and one of them is rather serious. I think it is better to say it immediately, before everyone is befuddled by the outstanding feast." Dumbledore cleared his throat and continued. "As you already undoubtedly know, from the unfortunate incident on the train today, Dementors from Azkaban are staying on the school grounds as per orders of the ministry of magic."

Till that moment John sat slightly dazed in his chair, next to the boy who had nudged him before. A flurry of thoughts passed him, yet none really held. He knew he would be in Gryffindor, where the hat duly obliged him, yet the odd poem did not fit his understanding. His parents never said anything about something like that. For some reason John felt a surge of ... something at the word "healer", yet the feeling eluded him. He had no better explanation than the rest as to what that had been about. The word "Dementor" suddenly pulled him out of his brooding thoughts as the boy next to him, who John now remembered from the sorting was called Henry, shuddered. His round face shook slightly while looking down to his hands

"I saw the one on the train", he whispered softly. "It was the worst feeling I ever had. It was like I would never be happy again. What _are_ they even?"

At once John shot out in an almost monotonous voice, "Dementors are dark creatures that consume human happiness, creating an ambiance of coldness, darkness, misery and despair. Because of their power to drain happiness and hope from humans, they have been set the duty of being guards at Azkaban, where they prevent the prisoners from having the will or ability to escape. Its only known ability, besides the happiness drain, is the ability to perform the "Dementor's Kiss", leaving nothing more than a living body. The only known effective spell against them is the Patronus charm."

Everyone around him stared at John. "What was _that_?" said Henry beside him.

"Bloddy hell! That was worse than Hermione, mate!" The very red haired boy, Ron, exclaimed ogling at him.

"A Patronus? What is that? Did you get that from a book? " A dark haired boy with bright green eyes and an oddly shaped scar on his forehead next to Ron asked with an eager voice.

"I...yes. Yes, I read it ... I must have." John replied unsurely, his voice trailing off.

"If you are quite finished with your little _discussion_ ," Hermione hissed, "Dumbledore is about to welcome the new teachers! So pay attention!" She seemed almost jealous in John's ears.

Two teachers were introduced; one was Hagrid, who was to take over Care of Magical Creatures (there was a wild applause by some of the Gryffindors) and Remus Lupin, a shabby, rather haggard looking man who was the new Defence against the Dark Arts teacher.

"And now, let the feast begin!" Dumbledore ended his speech, opening his arms towards the hall.

All of a sudden a gasp escaped all the first year's mouths, John's included. At Dumbledore's words platters of food appeared before them. Everything and anything you wanted was there. All kinds of meat, fish and vegetables and of course mouth watering mountains of deserts were piled before them. John realized that he was ravenous, like he had not eaten in days. Yet he was also sure he had had breakfast this morning with his parents and had been given quite enough snacks for the train, which he devoured. So why was he _this_ hungry?

The students were happily eating now having forgotten the happenings of the sorting as well as Dumbledore's speech for the moment. John just wanted to grab a very appetizing looking piece of chicken, when without warning a head appeared on the plate! With a shock John snatched his hand away from the platter.

"O hey, Nick!" the messy dark haired boy said in an almost bored voice. As if a head appearing from a platter was nothing out of the ordinary.

"Hello, Harry!" The head said jovially.

"You always know how to scare first years out their wits! They've probably never even seen ghosts before!" Harry said with a laugh, while "Nick" proceeded to climb out of the chicken platter. As he did that numerous other half transparent figures floated into the hall. Everyone was continuing with eating, not really giving them much attention. John hesitantly decided to continue with his eating, ignoring a distant thought that was bugging him. It was not so much a thought; it was more a feeling he had, like something was out of place. He was supposed to be happy! He was finally in Hogwarts, where he belonged! He was going to learn magic and become a wizard!

All of a sudden he heard a gasp from Hermione. "There! Look!" Everyone around her looked in that direction. It was another ghost, yet it looked different from the others. It seemed more ... solid. The ghost was that of a young woman with sleek shoulder length hair. She wore a short dress with stockings, so not the usual witches' robes. They seemed to be more muggle-like. But what was a muggle doing as a ghost in Hogwarts?

"I read about her in "Hogwarts, A History"! No one knows who she is and there have been very few sightings of her over the years. She has never spoken or even interacted with anyone before, so no one could ever ask her. She is the most mystical ghost of Hogwarts." Hermione continued in an excited voice. The ghost floated slowly past everyone, not looking at anyone. Yet many eyes followed her, even the teachers. As she came closer to their table, it seemed to John that she looked slightly sad.

Without knowing why, John spurted out, "There are no such things as ghosts." That was the moment, that the ghost turned her head, looked at him ... and smiled slightly.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hope you enjoy :)**

The first years were excitedly walking down a corridor to their first ever lesson; charms. In hushed voices they discussed what could be awaiting them; the thoughts ranging from only reading texts to tackling trolls for points. As they arrived at the room a tiny man, shorter than any of them, was already waiting

"O, there you are!" he said in a squeaky voice. "Come in, come in!" He hustled them into the smallish room, seemingly even more enthusiastic about their first lesson than they were. The students sat down at the tables formed in a half circle facing a black board in the front.

"My name is professor Flitwick and I have the honour of teaching you charms. A charm is a spell that adds certain properties to an object or creature. The first one we shall tackle is a levitation charm, known as _Wingardium Leviosa_. I can assure you that at the end of the lesson each and every one of you will be able to levitate the feather you see on the table in front of you. Now take out your wands and repeat the movement after me. It's a swish and a flick."

Professor Flitwick showed them the movements very clearly and checked that everyone managed them well. "Shall we try it with the feather?" He inquired jovially. All the students started chanting and flicking their wands. John was just as excited as the rest. He would finally be able to do some magic! Next to him Henry had such energetic wand movements, that he was almost poking his wand into his feather. John took his own wand, pointed it in the direction of the feather ... and it shot up towards the ceiling!

Everyone was busy with their own feathers and Flitwick was too busy helping a student whose feather levitated an inch above the table, so no one noticed the strange happening from a first year student. Nobody except Henry.

"How did you manage _that_?!" Henry asked incredulously.  
"I don't know! I...I just thought _up_ and it somehow worked! I didn't even have time to do the spell properly!"

"You know you just did wordless magic, right?" Henry asked him. John could only look at him with a perplexed face. What was happening to him?

The rest of the day went as normal as it could. John begged Henry not to tell anyone what had happened in charms. The looks he got even without knowledge of this incidence were bad enough as people were not sure what to think of him. Henry was nice enough, but the other Gryffindors were somewhat hesitant accepting him after the incident with the ghost and the sorting. He could hear how he was called _the weird one_ , behind his back.

The last lesson of the day was potions, which was in the dungeons out of all places. They all had a hard time concentrating to the words of the rather moody man dressed completely in black, who right at the beginning of the lesson said that most of them would be a waste of his time. Apparently even so they got a lot of homework for the following lesson, which they were discussing disgruntled after the lesson was over. It was not just that lesson, but every other professor had given them homework and this was just their first day!  
Most first years went straight to supper, exhausted and famished after the long day, while John wanted to first "freshen up" in the Gryffindor common room as he said. Truth is he just wanted some time to think about what was happening to him and he could not do it with a group of excited first years talking non-stop. It was just too much for his first few days at the school.  
He did not have much time to think though as a voice behind him called out, "Hey wait up, John!" An out of breath Harry Potter caught up to him, panting. John sighed slightly. It seemed like he was not going to get any time alone. Harry also had to go to the Gryffindor tower to fetch something and so they started walking together.

"I was meaning to ask you something." Harry started. "You...um...you said something about a Patronus after the sorting? Do you remember?"  
"How could he forget?  
"Yes" was all he said.  
"Could you maybe ...tell me something more about how to do it? I mean ... I had some problems with the ... Dementors before. And I was hoping that maybe you knew something that might help?" His voice was trailing off. John looked at him, slightly uneasily. What he had said after the sorting was uncontrolled. He had felt the knowledge suddenly surge through him and coming out of his mouth, without his conscious mind being able to retaliate. He did not know where it had come from, but the knowledge was suddenly there. Now, the knowledge was fuzzy at best. John did not know what a Patronus was and has never actually seen it. He was about to say something to Harry, but a cold, arrogant voice cut him short.  
"If it isn't Potty and the- oh it seems that for once you are not together with that weasel friend of yours. But I see that you latched on to the next _celebrity_ of Hogwarts. What being one yourself isn't enough for you?" He looked at John with disdain.  
"O shut up, Malfoy!" Harry exclaimed irritatedly. "Where are those goons of yours anyway? They can't be far off; otherwise you would be the simpering, scared git we know you to be." The words of both boys were spat at each other with quite a bit of ferocity. John wondered what disputes they had in the past to talk to each other with such hatred now. Malfoy's eyes narrowed as he looked at Harry and John.  
"You should watch out." He said to John. " _The boy who lived_ has had quite a few close calls since he started here. You would not want the same to happen to _you_ now would you? You should watch out with whom you hang around." With that Malfoy stormed off.  
"I hate when they call me that. Especially _him_." Harry said quietly, when Malfoy was out of earshot. "It's not like I did anything consciously to earn that title." He shook his head in irritation. "But anyway ... you were about to say something about the Patronus?"  
John tensed slightly and turned to him, "I'm afraid I don't know any more about it, only that it exists. Perhaps you could ask someone else ... a teacher maybe?"  
"At that Harry's shoulder stooped a bit, but said that he would definitely try. For a while they walked together in silence towards the Gryffindor common room, until John broke it. "You know, it's funny how we both are given names for something we could not control." _The weird one_ he had been hearing stung at him slightly, yet he felt his mind wander to the word healer from the sorting _again_ and felt the odd chill once more. Slowly a thought was forming in his mind and he somehow felt it vital to state his thought, "I don't think it's so important what others name us. It's more important what name we choose. Like a promise we make to ourselves."  
Harry looked at the odd boy next to him. "You know, you sounded more like Dumbledore then, than a first year."

A crease appeared between John's brows.


	4. Chapter 4

He found himself stuck in a box. A blue box. It was so small, yet somehow so giant... and it was hurtling towards the ground with alarming speed. Someone was shouting next to him in a panicked voice, but he had more important things to worry about. He turned the plentiful knobs, pushed multiple buttons and levers on the console, ran to the walls to push more buttons, but nothing seemed to help. The box continued falling and they with it. For the first time in his long, long life he was actually at a loss at what to do. They were going to die.

"Don't you dare! Doctor, don't you dare give up! There has to be something we can still do! We're not going to die! Not like this!" He shot a look at the terrified young woman in the dress next to him.

"I am sorry, I am so, so sorry." is all he found he could say. Then all went black.  
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John bolted up in his bed in the Gryffindor tower. He looked around in panic, before realizing that he was not in a box, but in his bed in the Gryffindor common room. It was just dream! Just a weird dream, nothing more he told himself still breathing hard. The details of the dream were fading fast, yet the scream of the woman was still penetrating his mind, like an echo. It was quiet in the room, seeing that everyone was sound asleep. Only the occasional soft snoring or shifting of a boy made a sound. Having relaxed slightly John let his head fall back onto the pillow in the hope that he could still catch some sleep, yet he quickly realized this was not going to be possible, because of the many thoughts that crossed his mind. He actually had been expecting that _something_ would happen, seeing that the last few weeks have been far too calm. Everything was going well for John for once. He could control himself to an extent that his _abilities_ were not that obvious and his classmates were more welcoming of him. The name calling diminished and Dumbledore's eyes did not follow almost every movement he made when in the great hall. The discussions that were taking place were now less the sorting and John and more the upcoming quidditch match of the Gryffindors. He was starting to enjoy the school, having subjects where he excelled, like charms and transfigurations, even those he was not that good at, like history of magic (he just could _not_ listen to that voice without falling asleep) and astronomy, where he had problems remembering the name of celestial objects, almost like his mind was repelling them. All in all, they were a somewhat normal few weeks...until this dream.

At breakfast that morning, John sat with the rest of the first years tiredly nibbling at a piece of toast. "Are you okay?" Henry asked, giving him a sideways glance. "Ugh, yeah...just didn't get enough sleep." was the groggy reply. He continued nibbling until suddenly he let the toast fall and rushed his hands to his ears. A high-pitched trilling sound was invading him.  
"What is that?" he asked frantically looking around trying to find the source of the sound.  
"What is what?" Henry asked confusedly.  
"That noise! Don't you hear it?" yet just as quickly as it started it also faded. "Hm...it's gone!"/  
"Perhaps it was just a bout of tinnitus?" Henry offered. "It's not that uncommon."  
"You're probably right..." John uncertainly added.\

Yet the path to their first lesson of the day, transfiguration, proved them wrong. The trilling noise came louder this time. "Seriously! It's back! What is that noise!?" He asked no one in particular and started to get rather flustered as they were standing in front of the classroom now.

"Okay, now you are starting to scare me." Henry retorted looking at him with bewilderment.  
John ignored him and turned his head towards the corridor and took a few steps away from the classroom in the direction of the staircase. The trilling grew into something else, something finer.  
"Is that...is that _whispering_!" John exclaimed. "Can you seriously not hear it? It's coming from...somewhere there." His voice trailed off and he continued walking in the direction.

"We...we have transfiguration now!" Henry called, trying to get him back. What was going _on_?

"J-just go to transfiguration. I will be there shortly...I promise! I just... need to see where that noise is coming from."

And with that John was gone. Henry hesitated at the door and undecidedly took a few steps towards the sounds of John's footsteps, but at that moment Professor McGonagall appeared and hustled him into the classroom, thus taking the decision to follow John from him.  
**********************************************************************************************

John slowly walked along the deserted corridor following the whispering until he abruptly stopped in his tracks at the staircase. The whispering had suddenly stopped. He looked around in confusion...and gasped. There she was again at the bottom of the staircase looking straight up at him with her unwavering eyes. The mysterious ghost. He remembered her from somewhere, he now realized; he had seen her somewhere before, apart from the sorting. But where?

"Who are you?" he whispered. As an answer she smiled at him and opened her mouth, but no sound came out. They stood like that for a moment and John realized that she was forming words. More so, she was repeating one word it seemed over and over again without sound. He took one tentative step towards her to see her better and maybe discern what she was saying, yet at his nearing she suddenly disappeared and appeared at the end of the corridor again, by the DADA classroom. Did she want him to follow her? He briefly wondered why they were heading to the shabby classroom as he hesitantly walked towards the waiting ghost. He had not quite managed to hide his fear. A thought drifted in his mind; maybe he could just turn around and go to class, like everyone else did, like Henry urged him to? A frown appeared on John's forehead. No, he _had_ to know! He had to understand.

With new determination propelling him forward he finally stood in front of the ghost, who was still silently repeating the word over and over again. Slowly the door of the classroom opened and John could hear loud banging and rattling coming from inside, like someone was desperately trying to escape. It was a terrifying sound and John stood rooted to the spot, not managing to make his head turn to see what was in the room. His companion had drifted further into it and the next _bang_ was so loud, that he felt his head snap around reflexively.  
In the room was a single large wardrobe, from which the rattling and banging was coming from. The ghost stood next to it, patiently looking at him, never ceasing her silent word. He slowly, almost reproachfully, stepped into the room his eyes glued to the rattling wardrobe that was getting even louder. The moment his foot stepped onto the wooden floor the ghost shifted her position from the wardrobe and appeared directly next to him, her face mere inches away from his ear. He could really feel the icy coldness of her breath as she finally whispered the word she had been silently repeating all this time.

" _Remember_."

With that, she instantly vanished, and with her the rattling and banging of the wardrobe also ceased leaving John staring at the silence in front of him. It did not leave him a lot of time to ponder though, as a voice called out of the wardrobe.

"Let me out, John."


	5. Chapter 5

**Sorry it took a bit longer. :) Hope you enjoy**

Professor Remus Lupin was tired as he briskly walked in the direction of his classroom. It was not merely the nearing full moon that made him feel so, but also his impeding lesson with the third years. He was going to show them a Boggart today, which was already shut in a wardrobe. The lesson was going to prove difficult though, because he did not know how to keep the class calm when it was Harry's turn with the Boggart. It was most probably going to be Voldemort and he could not picture a class of thirteen year olds not panicking about the sight. No, as sorry as he was, he could not let Harry have a turn with the Boggart. Lupin peered up from the ground he had been looking burrowed in thought and abruptly stopped his walking. His classroom door was open. That was actually not possible, because he had charmed the door before he left, therefore it could only be opened by him. At least that's what he thought. He took his wand out and cautiously peeked into the room. There were two people in the room; one he recognized as one of his first year students, John Smith, and the other was a tall man who looked absolutely furious and coming closer and closer to John, who was stepping backwards in fear.  
Feeling quite alarmed, Lupin was about to call out to the man, when he noticed that the wardrobe door was ajar. Looking back to the man he realized that this was no man, but his Boggart. Still wondering how in the world John managed to get into the classroom, he lifted his wand and called out to him.  
"It's alright, John! Stay calm, he can't harm you." John swirled around to Lupin, panic written on his face. "Wh-what do you mean?" came the shaky reply.  
"It's a Boggart. He's not real! It only shows what or who you fear most." answered Lupin in a reassuring voice, not wanting to frighten the boy any more than he probably already was.  
"But...who is he?" asked John looking jerkily at the man who continued advancing.  
Lupin frowned in astonishment. "You mean you don't know who that is?" He could not see anyone else in the room and the Boggart was obviously very concentrated on the boy, so it had to be _his_ fear.

"He looks furious." was the only reply from John. So John saw his biggest fear...which he could not even remember? The mystery surrounding this boy was becoming more shrouded.

As if on cue, the Boggart opened its mouth and said to John in a deep husky voice, "Remember me, John."  
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"Who are you?" John asked, his frustration growing. Yet there was no answer, the man, or rather the Boggart, continued to look at him with a very intense look. John sensed that something was not quite right about this situation as Professor Lupin gave him an odd look. Nevertheless he cleared his throat and said to John, "Don't worry, there is a way to stop the Boggart. It's actually reserved for my third years, but seeing that you are in this mess, _however it happened_ , you can help me resolve it." He walked forward and stood next to John facing the creature. "Now, usually it is best to try and distract the Boggart; to confuse him. I find the simplest way is to imagine a funny detail for the Boggart to take on, such as his clothes or something similar."  
John looked at the furious man again. He was wearing a black coat with red lining accentuating his furious style. The red lining made John think of a red fez and a fly. "Fezzes are cool!" He thought and realized with a shock that he said it out loud. Shaking his head he wondered where that thought had come from.

"Have you envisioned something?" The encouraging voice of Lupin spoke next to him.  
"Um...maybe?"  
"Well if you have, hold on to that. Point your wand to the Boggart and clearly repeat after me the word "Riddikulus"!" John took a deep breath while pointing his wand at the Boggart and clearly said "Riddikulus". The only thing that happened though, was that the Boggart man frowned, seemingly becoming even more furious.  
"You need to remember!" it practically growled at John, whose fear grew yet stayed put. "What do you want from me?! "What should I remember! Just let me be a normal! Why can't you let me have my life here?" He almost shouted, thinking of the odd things that have already happened to him at Hogwarts.

While looking at the boy with growing curiosity, Lupin softly said "I'm afraid this is not how Boggarts work. They cannot tell you why something is, they can only show what is. Just try pushing out all other thoughts and try again." John tried to follow Lupin's instructions, but his agitation was growing. "This is going to stop now!" He thought and determinedly raised his wand and said the incantation. Again the spell merely seemed to amuse the Boggart though. It actually slowly turned its head to glance at Lupin, a rather alarming fact for him, and then back to the boy. Finally its lips twitched into a slight smile and almost lazily began shifting its form. When it morphed into a blue box with large white letters stating "police box", John gasped. "That's the box from my dream!" he exclaimed with increasing agitation in his voice. Wanting this to stop, John reflexively shot another Ridikulus at the Boggart. Now a metal object covered with knobs and odd extremities stood in front of him with. A rasping metallic voice sounded in the room accompanied by a light from the object.  
"The- doctor- has- been- located!" The creature exclaimed in a rasping mechanical voice, turning towards John. "You- will- be- exterrr-minated!" A sudden pure rage infiltrated John's thoughts making him lift his wand with fury and fling a Ridikulus again. He just wanted, no needed, this to end! He needed to get on with his life here at Hogwarts! Not caring anymore what the Boggart was becoming, John continued flinging the spell at the hated thing.

Lupin sensed that he had to intervene and do so fast, because the odd situation was spiraling out of control. What bothered him most was that he could not even explain what was happening.

The Boggart meanwhile switched forms faster and faster. Short bursts of images were hurled at them. One moment it was a small bulky man with blue metal armour, with a head that closely resembled a potato. Next it was a very large tin man with a thin slit as a mouth and two eyeless black holes in the helmet. The professor looked down at the boy next to him was taken aback at the look on his face. It very closely resembled the look of the furious man they had just seen. Lupin noticed with some alarm that John did not even need to say the words anymore, just rashly flick his wand and it. _This is not possible!_

The next instance John shuddered to a stop, shortly after flicking his wand one last time. For a short moment the ghost of the young woman stood there, just more solid than what John had seen of her before. It had been the woman from his dream. Thoughts sped past in John's mind. _Why_ were the woman and the blue box from his dream there again? _Why_ was the Boggart doing this? Was he really _afraid_ of all those odd forms? He did not recognize anything he saw, yet he had felt more rage than fear at some of them. He could not cope with this anymore and closed his eyes, trying to ban the figures from his mind. He did not notice Lupin step in front of him and call out "Ridikulus" at the Boggart. Yet a sharp gasp of the professor the next moment made him look up.

In front of them was a serene stone statue of a woman with large wings, her hands covering her face. It reminded John of an angel. "Ridikulus!" Lupin tried to banish the Boggart again, yet to no avail. The statue did not budge. Lupin and John looked at each other shortly before turning their eyes back to the angel Boggart and jumped back in unison. The stone figure was no longer covering her eyes, but looked at them with a very menacing expression, its sharp teeth reared and arms outstretched, like it was about to pounce them. Yet it stayed frozen in this position and did not come any closer to them. "What the hell is happening?" Lupin muttered, forgetting for a moment that he was in a school. At the sight of the statue something suddenly clicked in John's mind and he inhaled sharply.

Looking straight at the angel statue with steady eyes he exclaimed, "Don't blink! Don't even blink!"


End file.
